Genre: Thriller, Drama, Murder
Tagline: Love. At any cost.
Plot: In a remote area of Northern Kenya, the region's most dedicated activist, the brilliant and passionate Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), has been found brutally murdered. Tessa's traveling companion, a local doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), Sir Bernard Pellegrin (Bill Nighy), and the other members of the British High Commission assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to their discretion. They could not be more wrong...The career diplomat's equilibrium has been exploded by the loss of the woman he was deeply devoted to. They were opposites whose attraction sustained a marriage, the memories of which now spur Justin to take decisive action for the first time in his life and diplomatic career. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his wife's infidelities, Justin surprises himself by plunging headlong into a dangerous odyssey. Determined to clear his wife's name and "finish what she started," Justin embarks on a crash course to learn about the pharmaceutical industry, whose crimes Tessa was on the verge of uncovering, and journeys across two continents in search of the truth. His eyes are soon opened
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 Discussion forum for this movie
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 "The Constant Gardener" begins with a strong, angry story, and peoples it with actors who let it happen to them, instead of rushing ahead to check off the surprises.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
Fiennes and Weisz almost save this film from being a confused effort, but it still is just that. C+--Lee Tistaert (Lee's Movie Info)
Helmer Meirelles and his behind the camera crew beautifully compliment the richly talented cast. Cinematography, by Cesar Charlone, is stunning with its lush look at the Kenyan landscape and the ravaging depiction of that nation’s shantytown poor. “The Constant Gardener” is a finely crafted, mentally challenging work that is a big cut above the usual thriller or conspiracy theory. I give it a B+. B+,A---Robin and Laura Clifford
The path takes him to a melancholy but somehow hopeful place not uncommon in le Carre's stories, where some justice gets done and a whole lot of wrong remains unpunished, yet love somehow still triumphs.-- (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
After a summer of mostly second-rate movies, the fall movie season gets off to an early start today (Wednesday) with the release of the movie version of John le Carré's The Constant Gardener...  -- (ShowBizData.com)
Enraged you may well be by the end of The Constant Gardener; you're just as likely to wonder what any one person can possibly do in the face of what it delineates.--MaryAnn Johanson
The problem isn’t one of performances, however, but one of condescension. In Meirelles’ faulty equation, Africa is a mess because of Western businesses, and the only solution is the virtuous gallantry of Western do-gooders  --Nicholas Schager (FilmCritic.com)
At the same time, the film falls into another familiar and rather discouraging system, that of mass media representations. Much as Tessa and Justin work as characters (thanks to subtle performances by both actors), they are troubling as bits of the larger text.--Cynthia Fuchs
Don’t get me wrong: “The Constant Gardener” is a meatier proposition than most of the summer releases, and its curiosity toward the world is rare and unflagging. Think about it a day later, though, and its hectic swoop from romance to thriller to campaign manifesto leaves oddly little afterglow. The gardener is the only constant here; so much else burns up and blows away.--Anthony Lane (The New Yorker)
Fiennes and Weisz's rapport, in the flashbacks and occasional fantasies punctuating Quayle's journey, is The Constant Gardener's major asset, and those scenes are its narrative core. They turn the movie from a conventional political tract to an emotionalrite of discovery.--Jim Lane
Like "The China Syndrome," "Silkwood" and "The Insider," it's a political thriller in the best sense of the term -- turning over crucial rocks, but engrossing the audience with the nail-biting process, not with what it finds underneath.  --Rob Blackwelder
And this intelligent filmmaking lifts everything to an unexpectedly important level. In addition to being a gripping thriller and a stirring love story, the film highlights events and situations taking place right now--injustice that slips beneath the radar of public conscience.--Rich Cline
The Constant Gardener is a thriller with plenty on its mind. It leaves us wondering how well we know the world around us, not to mention the people we love. It's appropriately unsettling. B+--Robert Denerstein
This is an interesting, entertaining movie which is worth seeing. My advice is to close your mind to the ill-informed message about the usefulness of expired drugs and watch with a healthy skepticism of the main premise. 7/10--Tony Medley (TonyMedley.com)
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| Written by |
John le Carré
The Tailor of Panama, The Russia House, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold | Jeffrey Caine
Inside I'm Dancing, Dempsey & Makepeace: Hors de Combat, Dempsey & Makepeace: Judgement |
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| Cast |
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 | Bill Nighy
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Underworld, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
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| One of the most erotic - and politically charged - scenes in the film depends more on pauses than on language. "The Constant Gardener" is a rare find indeed; perhaps the best film of the year to date. --Robert Glatzer
Yes, it is devastated by disease, poverty and harsh weather, but you can't see any of that when the camera soars over its deserts and savannahs. From that vantage point, all we can see is beauty.
Ralph Fiennes gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal, holding us with his quivering half-smile and his wounded eyes. Rachel Weisz may have an Oscar chance as well.
The cast is terrific, from the alluring Weisz to the great Fiennes.They have us caring about the outcome of the puzzle and them suspenseful resolution. This is one "Gardener" that's worth digging.
This movie is extremely well shot and edited, with a beautiful grainy look, dreamy over-exposed flashbacks, and a knack for matching the script's increasingly paranoid world with a filmic urgency that drives the story and keeps the viewer on edge. (Alliance Atlantis)
This is among the best films I have seen this year. It combines great writing, acting, and directing into a package which works on many levels and is satisfying on each one. This is one that is sure to be around come awards season.--Chris Beaumont (Movie-Gurus.com)
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